History of British and Other Royal Visitors
One commentator has observed that, notwithstanding the high unemployment resulting from the loss of full passports during 1981–2002, the level of loyalty to the British monarchy by the St Helena population is probably not exceeded in any other part of the world.
The first royal visit is speculated to have been by Prince Rupert of the Rhine (1619–1682), probably on his voyage home in India. No contemporary documents exist, but no other explanation has been given for naming Rupert’s Bay, adjacent to Jamestown.
The Prince de Joinville arrived in 1840 to return the body of Napoleon I to France. The Prince Alfred visited the island in 1860 en-route to Tristan Da Cunha. Empress Eugénie (widow of Napoleon III) arrived in 1880 and the same year Prince Henry of Prussia arrived in a German frigate. The Duke of Connaught arrived in 1911 on his journey back from Cape Town. The Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) visited in 1925.
George VI is the only reigning monarch to visit the island. This was in 1947 when the King, accompanied by Queen Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother), Princess Elizabeth (later Elizabeth II) and Princess Margaret were travelling to South Africa.
The Duke of Edinburgh arrived at St Helena in 1957 and then his son The Prince Andrew visited as a member of the armed forces in 1984 and his sister The Princess Royal arrived in 2002.
The last serving British Ministerial visit was in 1699.
Read more about this topic: History Of Saint Helena
Famous quotes containing the words history of, history, british, royal and/or visitors:
“There are two great unknown forces to-day, electricity and woman, but men can reckon much better on electricity than they can on woman.”
—Josephine K. Henry, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 15, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)
“No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam War. It was misreported then, and it is misremembered now.”
—Richard M. Nixon (b. 1913)
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)
“High on a throne of royal state, which far
Outshone the wealth of Ormus and of Ind,
Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand
Show’rs on her kings barbaric pearl and gold,
Satan exalted sat, by merit raised
To that bad eminence; and, from despair
Thus high uplifted beyond hope, aspires
Beyond thus high, insatiate to pursue
Vain war with Heav’n, and by success untaught,
His proud imaginations”
—John Milton (1608–1674)
“Neighboring farmers and visitors at White Sulphur drove out occasionally to watch ‘those funny Scotchmen’ with amused superiority; when one member imported clubs from Scotland, they were held for three weeks by customs officials who could not believe that any game could be played with ‘such elongated blackjacks or implements of murder.’”
—For the State of West Virginia, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)